USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Creole families of New Orleans > Part 14
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In the report of Ulloa above quoted, he states that Kerlerec had, in a letter, mentioned Lafrénière to him as one of the turbulent spirits whose intrigues and practices had agitated the colony during his administration; and that M. d'Abbadie, who had succeeded Kerlerec, had made the same complaint.
The news of the revolution in Louisiana reaching Spain in forty days, a Cabinet Council was held to determine whether the colony should be retained or returned to France. On account of its extreme importance geographically, it was resolved to retain it; and to use force to reduce the colonists to submis- sion, the necessary measures to be taken without delay. Don. Alexander O'Reilly, Lieutenant-Gen-
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eral of the Royal Armies, was given powers to effect this.
While the fate of Louisiana was thus settled in Spain the colony had resumed a certain degree of apparent tranquility.
Says Gayarré: "The excitement of action having given way to calm consideration, what would France do? what Spain? became the anxious questions of the hour. The crowd which had filled the Place d'Armes with its clamor began to shrink. The leaders alone maintained their proud attitude, under the lowering cloud, with unfaltering courage."
The Spanish frigate, still anchored in the river, was at last forced to relieve the city of its menacing presence. But the three Spanish dignitaries, Loyola, Gayarré, and Navarro, remained to make friends for themselves, if not for their government. It was in this interim of somber disquietude that the proposi- tion was made to expel Aubry and his few French troops; to proclaim New Orleans a free port; to form a republic where the oppressed and needy among all the nations of the earth would find a refuge and a home. The chief of the republic was to be styled a Protector. A bank, on the plan of that of Amster- dam or Venice, was to be created to furnish the financial support of the commonwealth.
The Swiss captain, Masan, originated this scheme of a republic, violently and openly recommending its adoption, and it became a subject of public dis- cussion and was circulated in the colony through manuscript and printed documents.
"There is no doubt," says Gayarre, speaking with his usual authority, that the colonists would have eagerly adopted this form of government, for they had always been republicans in spirit."
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But although the idea was abandoned as Quixotic, it nevertheless bequeathed to Louisiana the right of claiming to be the first European colony in America that formed the design of proclaiming her indepen- dence.
In the meantime, rumor spread that Spain was making formidable preparations against Louisiana and the leaders of the revolution were urged to seek safety in flight to the English possessions. This they scornfully refused to do, determined to remain in Louisiana with their fellow citizens.
It was on the morning of July 24th, 1769, when, as we can imagine, the inhabitants of New Orleans had awakened to their work or their pleasure and were intent only on them, that the city was shaken, as if by an earthquake, by the news that a formidable Spanish fleet had made its appearance at the Balise- in command of General O'Reilly. The judgment day had come!
Latent uneasiness of conscience burst at once into violent fear. Any attempt at further resistance was as much out of the question as further attempt at sinning on the last day. Nevertheless, the spirited Marquis stuck a white cockade in his hat and made an appeal to the people to oppose the landing of the Spanish. Petit, with a pistol in each hand, spoke with passionate violence against the Spanish, and was ready, he declared, to blow out the brains of any coward who would not cooperate against them!
In vain! The conviction of the hopelessness of their condition made the populace apathetic to all else. There was no longer any spirit of resistance in them! The leaders of the revolution themselves became alarmed over the desperate outlook. The
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magnitude of the armament against the colony threw them into dismay. They presented them- selves before the despised Aubry, as before the pos- sessor of the confidence of the Spaniards. He, with a hypocritical show of real sympathy, cheered them with his belief that, as no blood had been spilt, none would be demanded in expiation; and that the great force of General O'Reilly could not possibly be meant to carry terror and desolation through the land, but merely to insure possession of it. He advised prompt submission, offering to act in their favor with O'Reilly.
In the evening, Don Francisco Bouligny, a Spanish officer, made his appearance in the city, bearing dis- patches to Aubry from O'Reilly, who requested him to take all measures necessary to facilitate the trans- fer of Louisiana to Spain. Bouligny, with Gayarre, Navarro and Loyola, dined the next day with Aubry, who with emphasis assured them of the return of the people to sentiments of prudence and submission ; and on the next morning Aubry, assembling the people in the Place d'Armes, counseled them to make a prompt and entire submission, as the only means to prevent their ruin and that of the colony.
Lafrénière, and it was his most heroic moment, then went to Aubry and informed him that he was resolved to trust to the generosity and magnanimity of O'Reilly. With Marquis and Milhet, he offered to present himself to the Spaniard with the proffer of an assurance of the complete submission of the people to the Spanish Government.
Aubry eagerly accepted the proposition and, with the Spanish officers, the Louisiana gentlemen departed at once for the Balise. Don Francisco Bou-
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ligny presented them to O'Reilly, who received them in state on the deck of his flagship. Lafrenière was the spokesman:
"Excellency, M. Marquis, an ex-captain of a Swiss company; M. Milhet, a lieutenant of militia and a merchant; and I, Lafrénière, a planter and the King's Attorney-General, delegates of the people of Louisiana, come to assure you of their submission to the orders of their Most Catholic and Christian Majesties. . .. The harshness of M. Ulloa's temper and the subversion of the privileges guaranteed by the Act of Cession were the only causes of the revolution which took place in the colony. We beg your Excellency not to consider Louisiana as a conquered country. The orders of which you are the bearer are sufficient to put you in possession of this province. The French are docile and accustomed to a mild government. The colony claims from your benevolence the grant of privileges and from your equity the allowance of sufficient delay for those who choose to emigrate. . . . "
O'Reilly listened with grave dignity and made the answer hoped for. In the course of it, the words "seditious people" escaped his lips. Marquis, inter- rupting him, objected to the word "seditious" and explained the conduct of the colonists. O'Reilly listened with gentle condescension, detained the gen- tlemen to dine with him with the most delicate politeness, and sent them back completely reassured.
On the morning of the 17th the Spanish fleet, twenty-four ships in full rigging, colors flying, ap- peared in front of the city. O'Reilly landed and went to the house prepared for him. During the afternoon the Spanish troops were landed and were received by Aubry at the head of his French soldiers and the Militia. The Spanish troops, numbering two thousand six hundred men, were, it is said, among the choicest of Spain, and had been selected by O'Reilly himself. As they marched from the
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ships with their artillery of one hundred and fifty guns, and battalion after battalion of infantry with colors flying, perfect in discipline and in brilliant equipment, they excited the awe and admiration of the New Orleans people.
All the bells rang merrily and a salute was fired from the guns of the twenty-four vessels. O'Reilly, splendidly accoutered, preceded by guards with silver maces, followed by his staff, advanced toward Aubry, who was standing with the men of the Superior Council, and presented them his credentials, which were read aloud. Aubry released the Louisian- ians from their allegiance to France. The keys of the city were handed to the Spanish Governor; the banner of France was hauled down. Then all the dignitaries proceeded to the Cathedral, where they were received by the clergy. A Te Deum was sung, and with a pompous parade through the awed streets, the cession was completed in the eyes of the humiliated patriots, but not in those of O'Reilly.
On the day following the stately ceremony, he gave a great dinner to the French and Spanish offi- cials and citizens of distinction; but this, as Gayarré remarks, did not interfere with. the business which he had on hand. He had secretly been gathering documents and papers and depositions of witnesses and, on the very day of his banquet, had summoned Aubry to furnish him, as soon as possible, with the names of the persons who had roused the people to enforce the expulsion of Ulloa-in other words, the chiefs and agents of the conspiracy, as he styled it, demanding in particular the decree of the Council and Memorial of the inhabitants.
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The pusillanimous Aubry responded fully and promptly.
"No Attorney-General," to quote Gayarré again, "could have drawn a more precise and more fatal indictment, concluding with a humble and servile apology of his own conduct."
Aubry's document fixed O'Reilly's determination, and he proceeded through his crafty programme. Without loss of time, while Aubry was with him, he drew to his house under different pretexts nine of the Louisiana patriots. Lafrenière was, of course, among the first.
When they were all in his presence, and Aubry standing by, he tersely addressed them:
"Gentlemen, the Spanish nation is respected and venerated all over the globe. Louisiana seems to be the only country which is not aware of it, and which is deficient in the respect due to that nation. His Catholic Majesty is much displeased at the violence lately exercised in this province, and at the offense committed against his governor, his officers and his troops. He orders me to have arrested and tried according to the laws of the Kingdom the authors of these excesses and of all deeds of violence."
After reading the orders he added: "Gentlemen, I regret to say you are accused of being the authors of the late insurrection. I therefore arrest you in the King's name! Here are your judges." (Pointing to some officers in the room.) "They are as equitable as they are learned, and they will listen to your defense. . . . In the meantime, all your property according to the customs of Spain shall be sequestered. . . . As to your wives and children. I shall grant to them all the assistance of which they may stand in need. A faithful inventory shall be made of your estates and effects, and I invite each one of you now to appoint whom he pleases to be present at that inventory, who shall also countersign it."
The astounded prisoners gave the names of those who were to represent them. "Now, gentlemen," concluded O'Reilly, "please deliver up your
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swords." The house during this scene had been surrounded by troops and the room filled with grena- diers. One of the Spanish officers received the swords and, with an officer holding each arm, the Louisianians were conducted from the room to their places of confinement where they were all separated and not permitted to communicate with one an- other .* Some were put in O'Reilly's Spanish frigate, some in other vessels, and the rest in a well-guarded house. They were interrogated, and their deposi- tions taken down in writing.
The news of the arrest of the patriots and of the death of Villeré caused terror far and wide. They were so much identified with the whole population- as Gayarré says, "their personal friends were so numerous, their family connections so extensive, that the misfortune which had befallen them could not but produce a general sense of desolation." Well were verified the dire prophecies about Spanish cruel and despotic rule. Many in secret began to make preparations to fly to the English. Most of the houses in the city were closed; the streets were deserted and silent, save for the heavy tramp of the grim Spanish patrol.
O'Reilly pursued his programme inexorably. The ceremony of taking the oath of allegiance to Spain was sternly carried through and submitted to by the panic-stricken citizens. The trial was opened. The judges descended into the cells of the accused and forced them to answer minutely the questions they propounded. The prisoners never saw the witnesses brought against them and never knew who they
* The account of Villeré's death is given elsewhere.
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were. But the facts of the accusation were of so public a nature that they could not be denied. The accused admitted most of them and confessed their respective parts in the insurrection, resting their defense on the ground that the King of Spain had never taken possession of Louisiana, as Ulloa had never exhibited his commission; and, therefore, the colonists were not bound to receive Ulloa as the representative of His Catholic Majesty, but had the right to treat him as an intruder and im- postor and expel him from the province. Also, as the colonists had never taken the oath of allegiance to the King of Spain, or been released by Aubry from their oath to France, it followed that the inhabitants, not having become Spanish, had re- mained French.
The French laws had never been repealed and they claimed the right to be tried and judged according to the principles, forms and usages of French juris- prudence; and by tribunals and authorities compe- tent to take cognizance of their offense at the time it was committed.
Foucault declined to answer when interrogated, on the ground that whatever he had done was in his official capacity as Intendant of the King of France, and that he was answerable to his government alone, taking exception to any jurisdiction of the Spanish tribunal for acts which he had done officially. He was willing to stand his trial in France and re- peatedly asked to be sent thither. This was ac- corded: he was shipped to France, where on his arrival he was thrown into the Bastille. In Loui- siana Foucault's reputation has suffered the penalty
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of the infamy to which the Spanish judge con- demned that of Villeré. Madame Pradel shortly followed Foucault to France.
The prosecuting attorney at the trial of the colonists was the Licentiate, Don Felix del Rey, a practitioner before the royal courts of St. Domingo and Mexico. In the long documentary report he made of the trial, he blames Lafrenière as chief instigator of the conspiracy, and complains of his deportment. As he truthfully says, if the Attorney-General had followed the example of Aubry, the rebels would have been constrained to do the like.
By the 24th of October the Court came to the end of its elaborate formalities and found the prisoners guilty. O'Reilly, as its President, pro- nounced and signed
"the judgment, condemning Nicolas Chauvin, de Lafrénière, Jean Baptiste Noyan, Pierre Caresse, Pierre Marquis, and Joseph Milhet to the gallows, which they have deserved by the infamy of their conduct; to be led to the place of execution mounted on asses- with a rope around their necks, to be hanged and to remain suspended until further orders."
Doucet, Hardy de Boisblanc, Masan, Jean Milhet and Pierre Poupart were sentenced to six years of imprisonment and perpetual exile from Spanish dominions. All printed copies of documents relat- ing to the insurrection were to be burnt by the com- mon hangman. Passionate appeals for mercy were made to O'Reilly by the women of the colony. Loyola, Gayarré and Navarro joined their interces- sions, to no effect. The sentence was carried out the next day. At three o'clock of the afternoon the five prisoners, their arms well pinioned, were con- ducted to the barracks yard.
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"They were well dressed," writes the gossipy Baudry de Lozières, and perfectly calm and self-possessed; conversed with one another as they went along, looking around them kindly and returning salutes addressed to them affectionately."
Cupidon, a slave, overcome with emotion, rushed forward and threw himself into the arms of his mas- ter, Caresse, shedding tears and embracing him. His master returned his embraces, told him to be calm, and freed him publicly, exhorting him not to misuse his liberty.
The space for their execution was guarded by a large force of Spanish soldiers, forming a square. The prisoners were conducted to the center. A bench had been placed for them, but they refused to sit down. Their sentence was read to them in Spanish and French. They refused to have their eyes ban- daged. "I have braved death too often," said Marquis, pushing the hand of the Spanish officer away, "to fear it now." Lafrenière enjoined upon his son-in-law, Noyan, to send the scarf he wore to his wife, that she might present it to her son when he became a man. With his finest Louis XIV man- ner, he faced his executioners, gave, himself, the word to fire, and fell, shouting with his last breath, "Je suis Français!" De Noyan, Milhet, Marquis and Caresse died in their uniforms.
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The wives and families of the patriots, with the good Ursuline Sisters, were on their knees before the altar in the chapel of the convent, which adjoined the barracks yard. When the shots rang out on the other side of the chapel wall their screams pierced the air and they fell prostrate on the floor.
The day after the execution the six sentenced to imprisonment were sent to one of the forts at
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Havana. The property of all was sequestered. According to O'Reilly's report, he was satisfied that the insult to the King of Spain had been wiped out.
The Cathedral archives, kept with minute preci- sion, contain no record of the burial accorded the patriots. It is not known where they were buried, or even if they were accorded Christian rites. Tradition supplies what seems only a pious hope, that Father Dagobert, the good French priest of the Cathedral and Vicar-General of the province, who was in hearty sympathy with the patriots, secretly had their bodies conveyed to the Cathedral precincts and, during the night, had them buried in holy ground, but the spot was never marked.
O'Reilly, it is said, wished to engage Cupidon for his servant. "What, serve the butcher of my mas- ter! Heaven forbid!" was the negro's reply. La- frénière's slave, Artus, who had a fine reputation as a cook, was sent for by O'Reilly, who told him: "You are the slave now of the King of Spain; I will take you for my cook." "Beware!" said Artus. "You are the assassin of my master! I would poison you!"
A wandering rumor from the past is still to be met in New Orleans historical circles, that a very old Creole lady, who lived in Dauphine Street, about 1830, in the greatest seclusion, and who was known as "Madame Boisclair," was in reality the widow of Lafrénière. To protect her privacy she had dropped the celebrated name and taken refuge in that of one of the four Chauvin brothers who had followed Bien- ville to Louisiana.
This explains Bernard Marigny's statement in his historical Memoirs. He relates what he seems per- sonally to have heard:
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"To move the heart of this 'Cannibal' (O'Reilly), Madame Lafrénière after stating to him that she was the granddaughter of the Chevalier d'Arensbourg, one of the heroes of Sweden and former aide-de-camp to Charles XII, . represented to him the horror and humiliation that would be inflicted upon her noble race, upon the old companion in arms of Charles XII. 'My grand- sire,' exclaimed the noble woman, 'will die of shame and grief! Do not disgrace us by an infamous punishment!' 'You may retire, madam,' answered O'Reilly, 'I will take your prayer into con- sideration.' Accordingly, the mode of execution was changed."
Aubry left Louisiana for France. His steamer was wrecked in a storm as it was entering the Garonna and he perished with it. "His end," says Gayarré, "was looked upon as an act of retributive justice by Heaven!"
Lafrénière's plantation on the Mississippi, above the Boré place, lay just above the Audubon Park of to-day. It passed into the hands of Le Breton, the husband of one of his daughters. A son of this Le Breton married a daughter of Boré and thus be- came related to Charles Gayarré, whose mother was the wife of Carlos Gayarre, the son of Ulloa's Contador.
France thrust a last stab of disappointment into the heart of Louisianians who, with despairing love, still clung to the hope that the mother country would make at least a gesture of pity towards them, but a mere ripple of excitement, and nothing more, passed over the French Government councils when the news came to them. The Spanish Government sus- tained O'Reilly who, in true Spanish conquistador style, had laid the body of a defenseless country weltering in its blood at the feet of His Most Catholic Majesty. In Louisiana, Time, the great obliterator of mortal misdeeds, has never been able to efface the
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memory of the tragedy. The soil that drank in the blood of the patriots has given it back in the flowers of immortality that bloom around their names.
The great Chauvin family overlived the Spanish rule, carrying their fine heredity of sturdy patriotism into the vitality of the American Domination. In New Orleans, the name still lives and is met in the families of Villeré, La bedoyère Huchet de Kernion, de Boisblanc. Le Breton, and many others.
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CHAPTER XI
LABEDOYÈRE HUCHET DE KERNION
T HE old New Orleans name of Huchet de Kernion is constantly met to-day in the current ways of social and business life. It always arrests the attention to the bearer of it and elicits comments of respect. To trace its source one must go far back into history.
To quote the genealogical records of the family, compiled by a representative of it to-day:
"The Huchet de Kernion family of New Orleans is one of the youngest branches of a memorable tree, whose origin is lost in the darkness of ages. The name is Breton Bretonnant, whether it descends from Huchelin de Clamban, the gallant knight who took part in the Combats des Trente in 1530, in the celebrated champion- ship fight between Ploermel and Joselin in Brittany, or whether, fol- lowing the records in the Bibliotheque Nationale, the fouUder of the family was Hugues de Horne, of the famous Horne family of Holland, who settled in Brittany in 1295, changing his name from Horne to Huchet, is yet to be determined."*
"The first authenticated founder of the family," to quote again from the records, "is Bertrand Huchet who lived in 1415, Keeper of the Seals of John, Duke of Brittany, and also his ambassador to England." His coat of arms bore three hunting horns or Huchets sables, on an argent field. In 1420 he married Jeanne de la Bedoyère, heiress of the
* Kindly loaned to the author by Georges Charles la Bedoyère Huchet de Kernion, a well-known authority on Louisiana genealogy.
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noble name and lands of the La Bedoyères, and he annexed her arms, "six pierced billets on an azure field" to his "three Huchets sables." Her name has been transmitted to his line, which is known to-day as the La Bedoyère Huchet de Kernion branch.
In the nineteenth century, the glory of the name shone out in the person of General Charles Angelique de la Bedoyère who, like the great Marshal Ney, was executed under the restoration for his desertion to Napoleon. He was on the point of making his escape to the United States, but not being able to resist the temptation of bidding his wife farewell, he turned back and was seized at the door of her dwelling
Jean François Huchet de Kernion was born in Rennes in 1604. Being the youngest son of the family, and having no share in the paternal estates, he was destined for the priesthood. Instead of this, he married Marie Léonore de Boisdonet, of an old Breton family, and settled in Quimper about 1650.
There his five children were born and in course of time were married into good old Breton families. The eldest son, who married Catherine Bouillot de Kergadon (forming the branch of Kerourin), was the grandfather of René Theophile Laennec de Kerlouarnec, the celebrated French physician, in- ventor of the stethoscope, to whom a statue has been erected in his native city of Quimper. The youngest son, Pierre Huchet Sieur du Rest, married twice, and it is from his second wife, Thomase Réné Guesdan de Keravel, that the Louisiana branch of the Kernions descends. But it must not be forgotten that, through his first wife, Renée Salaun du Rest, he became the uncle of the celebrated hero of France
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